HARDESTY AND TEAM CMRC TO START CONGRESSIONAL CUP TODAY
3/23/2010

Reigning US Match Race Champion to compete in most prestigious match race event in the US

Long Beach, CA – Bill Hardesty and his Team CMRC will start competition today in the 46th Congressional Cup, hosted by Long Beach YC. This event is the only ISAF Grade 1 match race regatta in the US, and has had a long tradition of attracting some of the highest-caliber talent in the sport.

Hardesty is the 2009 US Match Race Champion and thus is well-qualified to meet the field of ten teams deep in America’s Cup, Olympic, and World Match Race Tour talent.

“This is an awesome opportunity, its an honor to be have been invited,” says Hardesty. “And the field here is going to be really tough. But we had a great season last year, my team is really strong, so we’re looking forward to having a great event.”

Racing with Hardesty on equally-matched Catalina 37 class yachts is Matt Cassidy, Rod Hagebois, George Peet, Andy Escort, and Andrew Campbell.

Team CMRC will compete today through Friday in a double round-robin format, followed by the Semi-Final and Final rounds to be held on Saturday. Skippers in the Congressional Cup will earn valuable Grade 1 points on the ISAF World Match Race Ranking List, a share of the $40,000 prize money purse, as well as a chance to join the elite list of former winners who have been awarded the emblematic prize of the event, the coveted Crimson Blazer.

For more information about the Congressional Cup, daily results, photos, live audio, and nightly videos of the day’s action on the water from t2p.tv, visit the event website at www.lbyc.org.

About CMRC: The Chicago Match Race Center is the only center of its kind in the US founded to promote and grow the sport of match race sailing. Besides being used in the America’s Cup, match race sailing has recently also been adapted as a Women’s discipline in the 2012 Olympic Games. As part of its mission to provide the highest-level match racing training facility for professional and amateur sailors in the US, CMRC has procured a fleet of Elliott 6M class boats, the type that will be used in the Games, and will use them to train and race teams with Olympic aspirations. Additionally, the CMRC retains a full fleet of TOM 28 class boats and all umpire and support boats needed to run international-caliber regattas. The 2010 Regatta schedule will feature multiple ISAF Grade 3 events beginning in May, as well as the Grade 2 Chicago Match Cup in August, while also hosting the Richardson Trophy and the Windy City Match Race. For the complete 2010 schedule, please visit www.ChicagoMatchRace.com.